Irish Americans

About 10,000 Roman Catholics marched in Belfast in a parade that British authorities had declared illegal but made no move to stop. The marchers included 116 visiting Irish-Americans from NORAID, the U.S. fund-raising group accused of providing aid to the Irish Republican Army. The march marked the anniversary of the British policy, introduced in 1971 and abandoned in 1975, of interning terrorist suspects without trial.

Gerry Adams, leader of the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, began a nine-city U.S. tour in Boston, the most Irish of American cities. The Sinn Fein leader appealed to British Prime Minister John Major to work for peace in the wake of the cease-fire declared by the IRA in its guerrilla war against British rule of Northern Ireland. Adams will tour the United States for two weeks, primarily seeking to raise support among Irish Americans.

Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, the 1960's firebrand defender of Catholic rights in Northern Ireland, is visiting several American cities in coming weeks. Her return to the United States after several years marks the rekindling of interest in Northern Ireland politics among Irish-Americans. The eloquent Devlin is likely to strike a responsive note--in a way no other Irish activist can--among the faithful, who number in the tens of millions of Americans.

They wanted to play in the mud. But they had to settle for a run in the rain. While Wednesday's powerful winter storm was causing havoc across the region, several dozen members of the Santa Monica High School soccer team were running 40-yard sprints in a torrential downpour. But don't blame this punishing exercise on some sadistic coach. The kids liked it. "It was a battle to keep them off the field," said Santa Monica Assistant Principal Stephen Mahoney. "Have you ever played soccer?

The last time John Treacy ran through the streets of Los Angeles, he was chased by most of the fastest marathoners in the world. Treacy, of Ireland, was the surprise silver medalist in the marathon at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, behind the even more surprising Carlos Lopes of Portugal, who won the gold at age 37. Treacy's second-place finish shocked most observers because it came in his first marathon.

Re "Wellness Community Targets Latino Patients," Oct. 26. Nice story about the Wellness Center. And kudos to the Wellness Center for waking up to the 20th century on including Spanish-speaking access. However, the headline shouldn't have had the word "Latino." Instead it should have been "Spanish speakers." People forget--or never bother to think about it--that not all Latinos are Spanish speakers, including myself. But the fat of the matter is this: It seems to me the words "Spanish speaker" and "Latino" are interchangeable in The Times.

Bridie Letzer, 78, who as a teenager was imprisoned in her native Belfast for possessing a political leaflet and later became a crusader for civil rights there and in the U.S., died June 25 in Northridge of undisclosed causes. In 1939, the 15-year-old watched her brother sent to prison by the British in their native Northern Ireland. Soon afterward, someone handed her a leaflet denouncing such internments and demanding the release of those jailed for no crime.

No one should take seriously the reasons advanced by our government in a feeble attempt to justify the FBI's indiscriminate interviews of Arab-Americans. For years, there have been unfounded rumors of imminent acts of Arab-sponsored terrorism in the United States and the FBI has never interviewed Jewish-Americans under the guise of providing protection. Moreover, after the assassination of Alex Odeh (a prominent Arab-American who advocated the establishment of a Palestinian state)

Thrusting their fists in black power salutes and shouting "Africa," several hundred black Americans and a group of African leaders pledged Wednesday to end the economic hardship on the continent. They are attending a meeting of black American and African leaders organized by the Rev. Leon Sullivan, a U.S. civil rights leader.

BOSTON -- James “Whitey” Bulger will spend the rest of his life in prison, a federal judge ordered Thursday, capping a trial that detailed the Boston mobster's decades-long reign of terror. "The scope, the callousness, the depravity of your crimes are almost unfathomable," said Judge Denise J. Casper, who ordered Bulger to pay $19.5 million in restitution. A federal court jury convicted Bulger in August of 11 counts of murder, as well as multiple counts of racketeering and gun possession.